Leading Greens Support ‘Keep our NHS Public’ Campaigners

East of England Green Party Co-ordinator, Rupert Read, and Green Party Deputy Leader, Adrian Ramsay, will join local health campaigners opposing the privatisation of the National Health Service and will protest outside the office of Liberal Democrat MP Simon Wright (Norwich South) at 5pm on Friday 21st October (2 Douro Place).

Last month, Adrian Ramsay used his party conference speech to attack the Government’s proposed reforms of the NHS and called on the Conservatives and LibDems to reconsider their proposals.

He stated: “The private companies will bid for the services that are easiest to run – they won’t bid for the expensive services that don’t make any profit. The NHS will be left with those services that are essential to people’s health but don’t make profits. Far from this helping the public finances, it will place more financial strain on the NHS.”

The Green Party has been actively campaigning across the country in order to keep the NHS public. The party is concerned about plans to remove from the Secretary of State for Health the obligation to ensure that health services are provided across the country and to place the responsibility on GPs to buy health care services for the NHS, often from private companies.

The purpose of this protest, organised by the Norwich branch of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign, is to highlight the support that local Conservative and LibDem MPs, including Simon Wright, have given to the plans and to call on them to reconsider. Mr Wright recently voted for the reforms in a crucial Commons vote. The proposals are currently being considered by the House of Lords.

About Norwich Green Party

· It has 15 Norwich City Councillors (Labour 18, Lib-Dems 4 Tories 2)

· It has 7 Norfolk County Councillors serving 7 of the 13 Norwich county wards.

· In the 2009 European election, the Green Party secured more votes than any other party in the Norwich City Council area, gaining 25%.

· In the 2010 General Election, the Green Party doubled its vote share in the Norwich South constituency to 15% – comfortably the second highest Green vote in the country. In the party’s strongest constituency, Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas was elected as the first Green MP.